Philadelphia has just acquired another ace in Cliff Lee. The lefty has arguably been one of the best postseason pitchers of all time. Lee will be joining a rotation that already consists of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels.
All of these pitchers are guys managers would be confident tossing on the mound in Games 1 or 7 of the World Series. The weakest of the four is Cole Hamels, who was the team’s ace when they won the World Series a few years back. The sports world should no longer be surprised seeing more than one superstar on each team. This past NBA offseason, fans around the league saw LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh “take their talents to South Beach.”
Are the Phillies the Miami Heat of the MLB?
Both teams have undeniable star power. The Phillies have the best rotation the MLB has seen since Glavine, Maddux and Smoltz were together in Atlanta. The Heat compiled three out of the five Eastern Conference all stars from last season. Both teams have enough talent on their rosters to where it’s almost impossible to miss the playoffs, but can both these teams achieve their goals of winning the championships of their respective sports?
Both teams have one very similar problem. The talent around them may not be enough. The Heat this season have been getting very little help outside of their “Big 3”. The bench hasn’t been scoring enough and the role players haven’t been helping out. Sure, the team is hot right now, but they haven’t really been tested since their winning streak has started. The three of these guys might not be enough to bring the championship to Miami…and the Phillies face a similar problem.
The pitching of the Phillies will be incredible this season. There is no denying that. They have the type of rotation where you wouldn’t be surprised to see back to back No Hitters or Perfect Games. Halladay and Lee are capable of doing both those things and they will be pitching on back to back nights. Oswalt and Hamels have both been aces for their teams in the last couple of years as well. The problem is the team around them…can they hit?
The Phils just lost outfielder Jayson Werth to the Nationals via Free Agency. He has been one of their bigger bats the last couple of seasons. The team was the oldest team in baseball last year and adding Lee doesn’t exactly make them younger. Jimmy Rollins has been irrelevant for almost two years now. Utley was injured for a quarter of the season and Ryan Howard experienced a significant decline in his OPS from seasons before. The team is going to struggle to provide run support for their star studded rotation.
When you look at it closely, the teams are actually very similar. They might be playing different sports, but they both have the same problem. The talent on their rosters might not be enough to get them to the promised land, no matter how many superstars each team has. It certainly will be interesting to see how the Heat finish out the NBA season and playoffs, and how the Phillies fare next season through a grueling 162 game season and playoffs.
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